Virginia Potter
Author's Note: Thanks for reading this. It is something I came up with at 12:40 at night. I don't know if it will be any good...so just read and review and tell me what you think. Hope it isn't too sappy.
Disclaimer: I don't nor have I ever owned Harry Potter and the Harry Potter enterprise.
Virginia's Story
I looked up into those green eyes...eyes that I had looked into so many times, for so long, that I felt as if they knew me better than I knew myself. Despite myself, I felt ashamed of the sweat beading on my forehead, how awful I must have looked. But then, Harry had never seen that. He had never cared that much about all those things that would have driven the others away.
"You did wonderful." He murmured, pushing a strand of hair out of my eyes. I wanted to weep then and there...a torrent of emotion coursed through me, making me want, and need, more than I ever had before.
"I love you." I whispered, reaching out to take his hand. He glanced down, and I did also. His, so strong and young, muscular from years on the Quidditch field. Mine, delicate, white. The two were intertwined on the bedsheets, holding tightly.
"Mr. and Mrs. Potter, I would like to present to you the new Potter twins." I glanced up as Hermione strode into the room, beaming. Ron followed, sheepishly grinning as he glanced down at the bundle he held in his arms. I saw Harry begin smiling, widely, as he reached out to take into his arms the first of his newborn children.
"They're ready? You don't have to take them away for more...cleanings, or tests, or torture, or whatever it is you were doing to them?" Harry snorted. He shifted away as Hermione playfully swatted a towel at him.
"They are perfect." I looked up at my brother, shocked to see the tears in his eyes. He bent over and kissed me softly on the forehead, before handing my child to me. And now I began to weep, even harder when I saw the small tuft of jet-black hair that peeked out from the blankets.
"My little girl..." I whispered, pulling down the covers to look at her face. Immediately I saw that she would have her fathers eyes...from lashes too long for a newborn babe she peered out at me, those large green eyes burning a hole right into my very soul.
"And here's my strapping young lad." Harry grinned, turning so that I could get a better look at my son. I laughed when I saw the violent shock of red hair, the exact vibrant fire that was shot through my own hair.
"He is incredible. They both are." I said softly, reaching out one free hand to softly caress his small cheeks, his soft skin.
"What are you going to name them?" Hermione asked. I looked up at her, stunned. Names? I laughed when I realized that, for the past nine months, I had been so involved in what I was doing...
"I forgot names, Harry." I said, shaking my head.
"That's all right..." he murmured. "I think...I think I know what they should be called." He glanced down at them, smiling. "What do you think of Ronald James Potter and Lily Hermione Potter?" he asked, grinning at his two friends.
"Oh, you don't have to..." Hermione started. I cut her off.
"That's perfect, Harry." I smiled. "Ronald and Lily. What do you two think, being their aunt and uncle?" I laughed to see the stunned expressions on their faces. "Don't you two think we don't realize you are something more than friends?" I asked.
A grin broke out on Ron's face. "Of course you would know." Slowly he reached out to take Hermione's hand, both of them blushing like it was the first time either had ever been with another person.
'This is...perfection.' I whispered to myself. Little did I know how much my life would change...
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"They're coming." I glanced up from the two children playing on the floor.
"What do you mean?" I asked, the fear obvious in my voice.
"I can see them, on the rise just over the hill." He murmured, running to the desk to pick up his wand. "Summon Ron and the others quickly!" he said fiercely. I looked into his eyes nervously...they did not glow with the same warm, familiar light. I knew...I knew something was about to change forever.
"All right." I whispered, walking swiftly over to the cabinet. I glanced at Harry anxiously as he paused at the doorway.
"Virginia..." he muttered, turning back. I smiled, despite myself. He always called me Virginia...even though I had always disliked the name, its formal stiffness, it had always sounded like music coming from his lips.
"Yes?" I said, shaking my head.
"I...I'm going. I can feel him...Voldemort is here."
"What?" I cried. "He's...here? But...don't go, Harry. Don't you dare go alone!" I screamed. Ron and Lily looked up, crying.
"I have to...I have no choice." Harry said darkly. "If I don't go now, he might come here. I won't let him harm you. Not you, and not the children."
"But what about you?" I hissed, bending down to take Ronald and Lily into my arms. "What if..."
"I have to take the chance." Feeling the tears rising in my eyes, I stood, walking to his side. I slipped my hand into his.
"But I couldn't stand to lose you, Harry." I murmured. "I don't...I don't want to say goodbye."
"Then we won't say goodbye." He said, smiling softly. "Right now...we'll just say that we'll see each other again." He kissed me softly, lightly caressing my lips.
He pulled away and looked into my eyes once more...seeing the fear I sighed, pulling away. "Virginia, if I don't come back..."
"Don't you dare say that." I said, angrily. He shook his head.
"No...don't stop me. If I don't come back, please...tell my children that I loved them. Tell them that...tell them that I will miss them, wherever I am." I shook my head.
"I'll never say it, because you are coming back, Harry." I said stubbornly. He sighed as he slipped out of the door.
"I hope you're right. I hope to God that you are right."
I waited only a moment before throwing the powder into the fire. "Ron! Remus, Sirius, Severus! Albus!" I hesitated a moment before calling Hermione's name, also. After a moment they all stumbled out of the fire. Dumbledore looked into my eyes, nodding.
"He's here, isn't he?" I nodded, feeling the tears that coursed down my cheeks.
"Harry...go quickly. He went by himself. I haven't looked. I'm too...I'm too afraid." They all nodded at me. Severus even placed his hand on my shoulder, and I looked up, smiling softly. He had always been so cold, until he had found his love. Now he was one of us...loathe as Harry and Ron had been at first to admit it.
They all left, leaving me alone with my children. I crossed over to them. Lily protested for a moment before letting me scoop her into my lap. Ronald eagerly reached out his arms to let me bring him up with us. They were a year old now, two bright-eyed children who explored their world and found new things, things that I had never even found. The love that pulsated through me at that moment gave me a brief release from what I knew was happening outside my very doors.
It was the final battle; it could be nothing else. The entire magic world, both light and dark witch and wizard, had been anticipating this day for so long...since Voldemort took all that was left of the world, except Hogwarts. Never Hogwarts. Harry had been chosen to lead this day...I knew that. Just as I knew there was little chance I would ever look into his bright emerald eyes ever again.
"Hush, my child." I whispered as Lily quailed. "Soon everything will be at peace. Soon you shall be able to go out into the world, and be happy."
I was sitting this way, with my babies held tightly in my lap, when I felt the earth shake. I froze when it happened again and rushed to the window. Never...never had something held me in such thrall, for I saw what it was that was being done. I saw it and was unable to believe it.
They held him in a circle. Harry, leading them, with Dumbledore at his side, held every witch and wizard who had been hiding in the area, along with the ones I had summoned, in a circle with Voldemort at the center. The Death Eaters lay, dead and dying, scattered across the earth.
Voldemort...when did I learn to say his name without fear?...he lay on the grass, clenching his head with those spindly hands. The sun was shining brightly overhead, down on them all.
"You murdered my brother." I heard Ron say angrily, and though wearily of George. So young...I still was unable to believe he was gone. "For that you shall pay." I heard him say in muted anguish.
"You forced me into your web of deceit." I heard Severus snarl. "For that you shall pay."
"You took away my closest friend. You took away my only family." Remus said, his voice toneless. "For that you shall pay."
"You took my family also." Sirius mumbled. "It was you and your followers that forced me into prison for twelve empty years. You ruined all that I had." He said, clenching his jaw. "For that, you must pay. And you will."
And finally, Harry stepped forward. His list of grievances so long...what could he ever say?
"You destroyed us all." Harry muttered. "For that, you will die." He raised his wand, But at that moment...
"No!" I cried angrily, seeing the flash of green from the corner of my eyes. Leaving my children, I rushed out the door. "Harry!" He glanced up, his green eyes shining ethereally, before the curse hit him. He slumped slowly to the ground, but not before his own magic worked its last. The gold beams shot from his wand, his body, and the earth around him.
Voldemort shook as the beams coursed around and through him. We all watched as he shrunk...when the last of the gold faded into the sky we all saw him for what he was.
He looked up at us, his face shrunken and ancient. Not wise, like Dumbledore's...just devoid of life and anything resembling humanity. Dumbledore rose his own wand, tears gleaming in his blue eyes, and prepared to end Voldemort, then and there, but it was no use. Voldemort simply vanished, his body crumbling to dust before us. I froze for a second before tearing my glance from the ash on the ground and gazing on all that remained of my love.
"No!" I cried, rushing over and falling to my knees. I placed my hand on his cheek. His green eyes stared blankly and unseeing into the sky. I didn't need to look up to know who the traitor was. I could hear Sirius and Remus going after him now. The only reason Peter had even lived these many years was because Harry had saved his life, preventing them from killing him. But Harry was gone...he wasn't here to stop Sirius and Remus from doing with Peter what they would.
"Harry...you promised this wasn't goodbye..." I whispered. "Why did you have to leave me?" I shivered a moment, holding tightly to his hand. It was cold, like ice...why did he have to be cold? Why take Harry, I cried in my heart. Why not take me instead? Or any of us? Why Harry?
"It needed to happen." Dumbledore said, walking to my side, looking down at Harry. I saw his own tears coursing down his face as he knelt, placing a hand over Harry's face to close his bright green eyes for the final time.
"But why?" I whispered. "Why now? Why ever? His children need him...I need him." I murmured, struggling to fight the tears.
"We needed him." Dumbledore said. "Harry always had a choice...I think he chose this, Ginny, to do something nobody else could have done."
"And what was that?" I said softly.
"Protect his family. Make this world safer for you, and your children."
I glanced up at him and nodded, standing, letting Harry's hand fall from mine. "Until I see you again, my love." I whispered, placing my hand over my lips and letting the kiss fall to the earth at his side.
"Ginny? Are you..." Ron walked up to my side, fear on his features. I nodded...it had to be all right.
"Yes, Ron. And..." I froze for a moment, looking back at Harry as he lay on the earth. "Don't call me Ginny. That isn't me...call me Virginia."
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Please don't forget me. My name is Virginia Weasley Potter, and I have lived a long, happy life. I have missed having my love by my side...I don't think I shall ever get over the pain of losing Harry. But without him I have lived...I have lived knowing that someday we will meet again.
My son and daughter are magnificent creatures, I have so much to say. What Harry might have done, knowing his only daughter became a Snape, I could only guess. But she had married the son Severus had borne with his wife...even though it was a surprise. None of us could have guessed that the head of Slytherin house would himself have married a muggle.
But Lucas has taken care of Lily. I must admit, those first years with her were trying...she has struggled so much, pulling against me. Sometimes I think I challenged her by pulling back too hard, but I was too afraid of losing her to let her go. I was only too surprised to discover that when I finally let her go, she came back to me. She always comes back.
Ronald, like his uncle, has a temper. But he is, as always, incredible. I have missed seeing what Harry might have thought to see his son like this...captain of the British Quidditch team, winners of the world cup. Later, a devoted father of three. I still cannot believe that my children's children are now parents themselves.
For, you see, I am old. I have lived a long life, as I said before. A long happy life. I can only imagine what joys I might have felt if for this life I had been able to share these events with the only man that I have ever loved. I still remember the feel of his hand on mine, and the warmth of those bright eyes. I still remember everything that he was to me, and everything that he shall ever be.
He would be so happy to know that Lily and Ronald are with me now. I know it hurts them to see me like this...old and weak. Ronald has forever been by my side...he always needed me more than Lily, I think, because of his father's legacy. But they are here with me, as I said, waiting.
I don't know what I wait for anymore. The time has come, I know, when my life has run its course. It is nearing its end...I have no more time to waste, holding on to illusion. No, my life was never perfect...but its closest were those few years I had with Harry.
But as I lay in bed, wasting away to nothing, I can remember those years and bring them back to me, bring back every soft touch that Harry ever laid on my cheek, every soft word he ever said. I miss him, but in my dreams he is as real to me as he will ever be.
Looking in the mirror in the mornings, I have slowly seen my hair change to white, and the soft, firm, rosy skin of youth fade to brown, and sagging, aged. I have imagined Harry laughing at my criticisms of myself, telling me I am beautful.
Even now when I wake in the morning, I turn and expect him to be there at my side. I feel empty every time when I see that he is not there.
But I know...I know my time has passed. I look one final time at my children...my son and daughter, the most perfect beings in creation. I watch them as they watch me dying, and let my hand fall from theirs as the remaining life ebbs out of me and back into the earth from where it came.
Looking back from my bed, I see myself laying there. Lily and Ronald are both weeping...they will miss me, I know. I only wish that they might have been able to miss their father in the same way, without him being some unearthly shadow, some legend connected to their names.
"They will be fine, Virginia." He whispers. I turn and smile as I look into the bright green eyes I hadn't seen for one hundred years.
"Harry...is that really you?" I murmur. He steps forward...looking young as he did the day he died...and took my hand.
"I am here...I am with you, as I have always been." He pulls me into his arms and holds me, holds me as we had held each other when we first fell into one another's embrace.
"Can't you stand to be with me?" I murmur. "I am old, and you..."
He pulls away, holding my hand. He lifts it to his lips and softly caresses it with his lips. I gasp, seeing that I now have that same firm, beautiful skin I was so vainly proud of when I was younger.
"Harry...?" I murmur. "Is this heaven?"
"Heaven has always been where you were." He says quietly, pulling me back closer to him. "I love you, Virginia, as I always have and always will."
"Why did you leave me?" I said quietly.
"Because I could not have born it if you or our children had left me." He mutters, running a hand through my hair. "And besides, so long as you remembered me...held on to me, Virginia...so long as you held on, I have always been in your heart."
I look up at him, into those bright green eyes. "We never said goodbye." I mutter.
"And we never did...and here, now we see each other again, as I promised you we would."
I look around us as we are bathed in the bright golden light. Shapes emerge from the light, shapes I had long gone without seeing. My brother, Ron...Severus...Sirius and Remus, smiling as if they were still boys...and there, on the edge of my sight, Lily and James, Harry's parents...
"I think I should introduce you to somebody." He saus quietly. He leads me by the hand to them, and I feel in my heart what I have always known.
Only in death could we be together. Only in death.
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Author's Note: Thanks for reading this. It is something I came up with at 12:40 at night. I don't know if it will be any good...so just read and review and tell me what you think. Hope it isn't too sappy.
Disclaimer: I don't nor have I ever owned Harry Potter and the Harry Potter enterprise.
Virginia's Story
I looked up into those green eyes...eyes that I had looked into so many times, for so long, that I felt as if they knew me better than I knew myself. Despite myself, I felt ashamed of the sweat beading on my forehead, how awful I must have looked. But then, Harry had never seen that. He had never cared that much about all those things that would have driven the others away.
"You did wonderful." He murmured, pushing a strand of hair out of my eyes. I wanted to weep then and there...a torrent of emotion coursed through me, making me want, and need, more than I ever had before.
"I love you." I whispered, reaching out to take his hand. He glanced down, and I did also. His, so strong and young, muscular from years on the Quidditch field. Mine, delicate, white. The two were intertwined on the bedsheets, holding tightly.
"Mr. and Mrs. Potter, I would like to present to you the new Potter twins." I glanced up as Hermione strode into the room, beaming. Ron followed, sheepishly grinning as he glanced down at the bundle he held in his arms. I saw Harry begin smiling, widely, as he reached out to take into his arms the first of his newborn children.
"They're ready? You don't have to take them away for more...cleanings, or tests, or torture, or whatever it is you were doing to them?" Harry snorted. He shifted away as Hermione playfully swatted a towel at him.
"They are perfect." I looked up at my brother, shocked to see the tears in his eyes. He bent over and kissed me softly on the forehead, before handing my child to me. And now I began to weep, even harder when I saw the small tuft of jet-black hair that peeked out from the blankets.
"My little girl..." I whispered, pulling down the covers to look at her face. Immediately I saw that she would have her fathers eyes...from lashes too long for a newborn babe she peered out at me, those large green eyes burning a hole right into my very soul.
"And here's my strapping young lad." Harry grinned, turning so that I could get a better look at my son. I laughed when I saw the violent shock of red hair, the exact vibrant fire that was shot through my own hair.
"He is incredible. They both are." I said softly, reaching out one free hand to softly caress his small cheeks, his soft skin.
"What are you going to name them?" Hermione asked. I looked up at her, stunned. Names? I laughed when I realized that, for the past nine months, I had been so involved in what I was doing...
"I forgot names, Harry." I said, shaking my head.
"That's all right..." he murmured. "I think...I think I know what they should be called." He glanced down at them, smiling. "What do you think of Ronald James Potter and Lily Hermione Potter?" he asked, grinning at his two friends.
"Oh, you don't have to..." Hermione started. I cut her off.
"That's perfect, Harry." I smiled. "Ronald and Lily. What do you two think, being their aunt and uncle?" I laughed to see the stunned expressions on their faces. "Don't you two think we don't realize you are something more than friends?" I asked.
A grin broke out on Ron's face. "Of course you would know." Slowly he reached out to take Hermione's hand, both of them blushing like it was the first time either had ever been with another person.
'This is...perfection.' I whispered to myself. Little did I know how much my life would change...
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"They're coming." I glanced up from the two children playing on the floor.
"What do you mean?" I asked, the fear obvious in my voice.
"I can see them, on the rise just over the hill." He murmured, running to the desk to pick up his wand. "Summon Ron and the others quickly!" he said fiercely. I looked into his eyes nervously...they did not glow with the same warm, familiar light. I knew...I knew something was about to change forever.
"All right." I whispered, walking swiftly over to the cabinet. I glanced at Harry anxiously as he paused at the doorway.
"Virginia..." he muttered, turning back. I smiled, despite myself. He always called me Virginia...even though I had always disliked the name, its formal stiffness, it had always sounded like music coming from his lips.
"Yes?" I said, shaking my head.
"I...I'm going. I can feel him...Voldemort is here."
"What?" I cried. "He's...here? But...don't go, Harry. Don't you dare go alone!" I screamed. Ron and Lily looked up, crying.
"I have to...I have no choice." Harry said darkly. "If I don't go now, he might come here. I won't let him harm you. Not you, and not the children."
"But what about you?" I hissed, bending down to take Ronald and Lily into my arms. "What if..."
"I have to take the chance." Feeling the tears rising in my eyes, I stood, walking to his side. I slipped my hand into his.
"But I couldn't stand to lose you, Harry." I murmured. "I don't...I don't want to say goodbye."
"Then we won't say goodbye." He said, smiling softly. "Right now...we'll just say that we'll see each other again." He kissed me softly, lightly caressing my lips.
He pulled away and looked into my eyes once more...seeing the fear I sighed, pulling away. "Virginia, if I don't come back..."
"Don't you dare say that." I said, angrily. He shook his head.
"No...don't stop me. If I don't come back, please...tell my children that I loved them. Tell them that...tell them that I will miss them, wherever I am." I shook my head.
"I'll never say it, because you are coming back, Harry." I said stubbornly. He sighed as he slipped out of the door.
"I hope you're right. I hope to God that you are right."
I waited only a moment before throwing the powder into the fire. "Ron! Remus, Sirius, Severus! Albus!" I hesitated a moment before calling Hermione's name, also. After a moment they all stumbled out of the fire. Dumbledore looked into my eyes, nodding.
"He's here, isn't he?" I nodded, feeling the tears that coursed down my cheeks.
"Harry...go quickly. He went by himself. I haven't looked. I'm too...I'm too afraid." They all nodded at me. Severus even placed his hand on my shoulder, and I looked up, smiling softly. He had always been so cold, until he had found his love. Now he was one of us...loathe as Harry and Ron had been at first to admit it.
They all left, leaving me alone with my children. I crossed over to them. Lily protested for a moment before letting me scoop her into my lap. Ronald eagerly reached out his arms to let me bring him up with us. They were a year old now, two bright-eyed children who explored their world and found new things, things that I had never even found. The love that pulsated through me at that moment gave me a brief release from what I knew was happening outside my very doors.
It was the final battle; it could be nothing else. The entire magic world, both light and dark witch and wizard, had been anticipating this day for so long...since Voldemort took all that was left of the world, except Hogwarts. Never Hogwarts. Harry had been chosen to lead this day...I knew that. Just as I knew there was little chance I would ever look into his bright emerald eyes ever again.
"Hush, my child." I whispered as Lily quailed. "Soon everything will be at peace. Soon you shall be able to go out into the world, and be happy."
I was sitting this way, with my babies held tightly in my lap, when I felt the earth shake. I froze when it happened again and rushed to the window. Never...never had something held me in such thrall, for I saw what it was that was being done. I saw it and was unable to believe it.
They held him in a circle. Harry, leading them, with Dumbledore at his side, held every witch and wizard who had been hiding in the area, along with the ones I had summoned, in a circle with Voldemort at the center. The Death Eaters lay, dead and dying, scattered across the earth.
Voldemort...when did I learn to say his name without fear?...he lay on the grass, clenching his head with those spindly hands. The sun was shining brightly overhead, down on them all.
"You murdered my brother." I heard Ron say angrily, and though wearily of George. So young...I still was unable to believe he was gone. "For that you shall pay." I heard him say in muted anguish.
"You forced me into your web of deceit." I heard Severus snarl. "For that you shall pay."
"You took away my closest friend. You took away my only family." Remus said, his voice toneless. "For that you shall pay."
"You took my family also." Sirius mumbled. "It was you and your followers that forced me into prison for twelve empty years. You ruined all that I had." He said, clenching his jaw. "For that, you must pay. And you will."
And finally, Harry stepped forward. His list of grievances so long...what could he ever say?
"You destroyed us all." Harry muttered. "For that, you will die." He raised his wand, But at that moment...
"No!" I cried angrily, seeing the flash of green from the corner of my eyes. Leaving my children, I rushed out the door. "Harry!" He glanced up, his green eyes shining ethereally, before the curse hit him. He slumped slowly to the ground, but not before his own magic worked its last. The gold beams shot from his wand, his body, and the earth around him.
Voldemort shook as the beams coursed around and through him. We all watched as he shrunk...when the last of the gold faded into the sky we all saw him for what he was.
He looked up at us, his face shrunken and ancient. Not wise, like Dumbledore's...just devoid of life and anything resembling humanity. Dumbledore rose his own wand, tears gleaming in his blue eyes, and prepared to end Voldemort, then and there, but it was no use. Voldemort simply vanished, his body crumbling to dust before us. I froze for a second before tearing my glance from the ash on the ground and gazing on all that remained of my love.
"No!" I cried, rushing over and falling to my knees. I placed my hand on his cheek. His green eyes stared blankly and unseeing into the sky. I didn't need to look up to know who the traitor was. I could hear Sirius and Remus going after him now. The only reason Peter had even lived these many years was because Harry had saved his life, preventing them from killing him. But Harry was gone...he wasn't here to stop Sirius and Remus from doing with Peter what they would.
"Harry...you promised this wasn't goodbye..." I whispered. "Why did you have to leave me?" I shivered a moment, holding tightly to his hand. It was cold, like ice...why did he have to be cold? Why take Harry, I cried in my heart. Why not take me instead? Or any of us? Why Harry?
"It needed to happen." Dumbledore said, walking to my side, looking down at Harry. I saw his own tears coursing down his face as he knelt, placing a hand over Harry's face to close his bright green eyes for the final time.
"But why?" I whispered. "Why now? Why ever? His children need him...I need him." I murmured, struggling to fight the tears.
"We needed him." Dumbledore said. "Harry always had a choice...I think he chose this, Ginny, to do something nobody else could have done."
"And what was that?" I said softly.
"Protect his family. Make this world safer for you, and your children."
I glanced up at him and nodded, standing, letting Harry's hand fall from mine. "Until I see you again, my love." I whispered, placing my hand over my lips and letting the kiss fall to the earth at his side.
"Ginny? Are you..." Ron walked up to my side, fear on his features. I nodded...it had to be all right.
"Yes, Ron. And..." I froze for a moment, looking back at Harry as he lay on the earth. "Don't call me Ginny. That isn't me...call me Virginia."
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Please don't forget me. My name is Virginia Weasley Potter, and I have lived a long, happy life. I have missed having my love by my side...I don't think I shall ever get over the pain of losing Harry. But without him I have lived...I have lived knowing that someday we will meet again.
My son and daughter are magnificent creatures, I have so much to say. What Harry might have done, knowing his only daughter became a Snape, I could only guess. But she had married the son Severus had borne with his wife...even though it was a surprise. None of us could have guessed that the head of Slytherin house would himself have married a muggle.
But Lucas has taken care of Lily. I must admit, those first years with her were trying...she has struggled so much, pulling against me. Sometimes I think I challenged her by pulling back too hard, but I was too afraid of losing her to let her go. I was only too surprised to discover that when I finally let her go, she came back to me. She always comes back.
Ronald, like his uncle, has a temper. But he is, as always, incredible. I have missed seeing what Harry might have thought to see his son like this...captain of the British Quidditch team, winners of the world cup. Later, a devoted father of three. I still cannot believe that my children's children are now parents themselves.
For, you see, I am old. I have lived a long life, as I said before. A long happy life. I can only imagine what joys I might have felt if for this life I had been able to share these events with the only man that I have ever loved. I still remember the feel of his hand on mine, and the warmth of those bright eyes. I still remember everything that he was to me, and everything that he shall ever be.
He would be so happy to know that Lily and Ronald are with me now. I know it hurts them to see me like this...old and weak. Ronald has forever been by my side...he always needed me more than Lily, I think, because of his father's legacy. But they are here with me, as I said, waiting.
I don't know what I wait for anymore. The time has come, I know, when my life has run its course. It is nearing its end...I have no more time to waste, holding on to illusion. No, my life was never perfect...but its closest were those few years I had with Harry.
But as I lay in bed, wasting away to nothing, I can remember those years and bring them back to me, bring back every soft touch that Harry ever laid on my cheek, every soft word he ever said. I miss him, but in my dreams he is as real to me as he will ever be.
Looking in the mirror in the mornings, I have slowly seen my hair change to white, and the soft, firm, rosy skin of youth fade to brown, and sagging, aged. I have imagined Harry laughing at my criticisms of myself, telling me I am beautful.
Even now when I wake in the morning, I turn and expect him to be there at my side. I feel empty every time when I see that he is not there.
But I know...I know my time has passed. I look one final time at my children...my son and daughter, the most perfect beings in creation. I watch them as they watch me dying, and let my hand fall from theirs as the remaining life ebbs out of me and back into the earth from where it came.
Looking back from my bed, I see myself laying there. Lily and Ronald are both weeping...they will miss me, I know. I only wish that they might have been able to miss their father in the same way, without him being some unearthly shadow, some legend connected to their names.
"They will be fine, Virginia." He whispers. I turn and smile as I look into the bright green eyes I hadn't seen for one hundred years.
"Harry...is that really you?" I murmur. He steps forward...looking young as he did the day he died...and took my hand.
"I am here...I am with you, as I have always been." He pulls me into his arms and holds me, holds me as we had held each other when we first fell into one another's embrace.
"Can't you stand to be with me?" I murmur. "I am old, and you..."
He pulls away, holding my hand. He lifts it to his lips and softly caresses it with his lips. I gasp, seeing that I now have that same firm, beautiful skin I was so vainly proud of when I was younger.
"Harry...?" I murmur. "Is this heaven?"
"Heaven has always been where you were." He says quietly, pulling me back closer to him. "I love you, Virginia, as I always have and always will."
"Why did you leave me?" I said quietly.
"Because I could not have born it if you or our children had left me." He mutters, running a hand through my hair. "And besides, so long as you remembered me...held on to me, Virginia...so long as you held on, I have always been in your heart."
I look up at him, into those bright green eyes. "We never said goodbye." I mutter.
"And we never did...and here, now we see each other again, as I promised you we would."
I look around us as we are bathed in the bright golden light. Shapes emerge from the light, shapes I had long gone without seeing. My brother, Ron...Severus...Sirius and Remus, smiling as if they were still boys...and there, on the edge of my sight, Lily and James, Harry's parents...
"I think I should introduce you to somebody." He saus quietly. He leads me by the hand to them, and I feel in my heart what I have always known.
Only in death could we be together. Only in death.
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